Perhaps I am just easily amazed.  But I spent a quite a few minutes marveling over a coffee cup this morning.  It wasn’t one of those novelty ‘1/2 a cup of coffee cups’ or a brushed stainless steel travel mug we all seem to have too many of.  Or even my really awesome Boba Fett mug.  In fact, it was a disposable one from a popular sandwich shop.

The first thing that really made it stand out to me was the fact that it didn’t stand out.  In fact, the woman behind the counter had to point it out to me as a coffee cup because at first glance I thought it was just a regular paper soft drink cup.  But as I picked it up, its slight heft told me there was something different.  On closer inspection, I found that it actually had a second layer of heavy bond paper wrapped around the cup, separated from the base cup by about a 1/32” air gap (with the help of some corrugate in between).  Perfect for insulating my hand from that hot, caffeinated goodness!

After I filled the cup, I noticed that the black plastic ‘sippy cup’ lid was a bit different too.  It wasn’t that annoying kind where you have to break loose the little cover over the sipping slot and then try to snap it in place on a different part of the lid (usually dislodging the whole lid or worse, poking your finger through it and into hot coffee).  It had a fully functional sliding valve, just like a travel mug!  Needless to say, I have been thoroughly impressed with this little throw away cup.

So, perhaps I am just easily amazed.  Or maybe I am just blessed to have a career in the wonder field of manufacturing, where you tend to notice every little detail that can add up to an improved customer experience.  Whether that be in a disposable coffee cup or in a Plant Engineering nominated Product of the Year.

Innovation.  Very simply stated, that is what impressed me about this humble little cup.  And that’s what drives EXAIR’s to continuously bring you more energy efficient, noise reducing, compressed air products.

Dan Preston
Engineer
DanPreston@exair.com